HiSilicon Kirin 9020 from Mate 70 Pro Plus - Die Analysis

The Huawei Mate 70 Pro Plus has arrived at the TechInsights labs; the smartphone is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 9020 processor. We were expecting to find the Kirin 9100 chipset in the Mate 70 line-up, rumoured to be fabbed by SMIC using 5nm technology. However, it seems we have found the Kirin 9020 instead, indeed fabbed by SMIC, but using a 7nm process node. Read this analysis to find out more details.

Inital analysis of the Kirin 9020 processor extracted from a recently released Mate 70 Pro Plus, the latest flagship smartphone by Huawei, reveals the processor is fabbed by SMIC. The Mate 70 Pro Plus smartphone released this year is an evolution from the series of Mate 60 smartphones released by Huawei since 2023, and its Kirin 9020 SoC is not a major redesign for the Kirin line from HiSilicon (just an update).

The Mate 70 Pro+ Smartphone application processor has similar package marking as Kirin 9000S and Kirin 9010 processors from Mate 60 Pro, released in 2023. The package markings include a "Hi36C0" marking followed by the "GFCV110" markings.

The Kirin 9020 die has a 15% larger die size (136.6 mm²), markings (“WH231203”) and features a somewhat modified circuit floorplan from the Kirin 9010 die.

The Kirin 9020 is hence an enhanced Kirin 9010 processor also manufactured using the same SMIC 7nm N+2 process (same minimum features, same BEOL and same critical dimensions) used to manufacture Kirin 9000S (HiSilicon Kirin 9000S ACE-2309-801 TechInsights Platform), which caused quite a stir in semiconductor industry, due to the rapid progress SMIC has been able to make despite US sanctions, to be able to manufacture 7 nm devices with full SOC implementation. 

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